CASINOS, SINKING SHIPS AND THE SAULT TRIBE

With the right help from qualified sources, the Sault tribe members could re-float this sinking ship called the Sault Tribe. The ST economy was built on casinos and corruption...the two go hand in hand. There were probably those that never intended that our whole being was centered on gambling and the pathological behavioral problems that came with it. One nicely run casino balanced with numerous other forms of entertainment to get things up and running and then with a nice annual bankroll of retained earnings, we could have burst out into other areas and built a self sustaining community with real jobs where salaries were consistent with state based averages instead of extremely high paid friends and family who weren't qualified in the first place.

That is why we are where we are today. No balance in the economic community and no balance retained in the bank accounts. We are the result of dumb, dumber and dumbest being motivated by greed, corruption and power. That isn't a finger pointed at any one person but pointed at groups of those whose outlook was not towards the best interests of the tribe over the long term but who conspired to take the biggest pieces before they were forced to share it with anyone else.

One Elder who was in the midst of the earlier days of federal acknowledgement has said that "a common mindset of earlier leaders was that they did the work so they should be the biggest benefactor and that the tribal members didn't have the intelligence to handle such a financial windfall anyway, so therefore they should figure out how to get their own". I remember a similar statement printed in the Evening News with the settlement of land claims but with the exclusion of the words.." who should be the biggest benefactor.....get their own".

If there were a fair election held today by an independent contractor, does anyone think that any of the current board members would be sitting in their seats tomorrow? I don't think so. We had hope for one new member and one or two that had served for a time but they have chosen to follow the lead and leave the members out. Will we hear excuses at some time in the future as to why they didn't speak up? It will be too late just as it is too late now. They all need to be removed.